There have been several reports suggesting the Calgary Flames are at least listening to offers on Dougie Hamilton. In this edition of the hotstove we discuss whether trading him is a good idea.
Todd Cordell I have a hard time believing the Flames would get offered close to enough to warrant moving Hamilton.
The narratives would have you believing Hamilton's time in Calgary has been a disaster but that is simply not the case.
He has produced points and driven play but any time he makes a mistake he ends up benched and the media has blown his 'struggles' way out of proportion. If anything I think he deserves more minutes, not less.
Top-4 defensemen are hard to come by so benching a 23-year-old top-4 guy, decreasing his value and then trading him seems like the worst decision possible.
I wouldn't trade him to begin with but if that was the plan the team should be giving him favorable minutes and trying to make him look good, not putting him down and playing guys like Deryk Engelland more than him. It's not a good look.
Adam French Any player should be available for a trade. It's the nature of the industry. It isn't true, but it should be. Hamilton is no exception. I think the Flames would be stupid to dump him, but smart to re-organize. Personally, I think trading him is dumb, but that's the business. He's leading the defense in points, but he is playing the least he has played since his rookie year. Clearly his new coach doesn't trust him to be that "top-4" or even "top-2" guy people peg him to be. Sometimes things don't work out. If they took the time to recognize that he and Brodie are the future, they'll be fine or at least clear in their convictions. Mostly because without him their defensive depth and futures are very lax.
I for one, would love for him to be traded to Dallas. You all know the reason.
James Tanner To me, this is a typical rumour that happens when a team isn't playing very well in that it doesn't really make any sense from any other prospective than to shake up the lineup.
I don't know if I'd want to trade such a solid defenseman even if he isn't playing great at the moment. The Flames have no chance of winning anything this year anything, so they should be patient.
If anything, given the age of their team and the fact that they are still probably a couple years out from being a contender, it probably makes more sense to trade Giordano - he's better but he's also older, and you'll also get more for him.
Matt Henderson YES.
They should be very open to trading him...up the road...to Edmonton. Me want. If they look at their roster and think that Hamilton is the problem then I hope they believe it with every shred of their being and trade him. Edmonton needs a RHD with offensive ability and Chiarelli was clearly interested in him before the Bruins vindictively traded him to the Flames. Picks, prospects, what are we talking here? Make this thing happen.
Peter Tessier The great question- time to cut losses on a bad move or look why the move turned out badly?
The challenge I would have with trading Hamilton is that the Flames wilt get full value for him compared to what they paid, and it's likely that they could have to retain some of his salary. Ooof!
If I'm Brian Burke I'm looking down a Treliving and asking him to start getting some data (LOL Burke and data) on where the problems are coming with the Flames. It's not just Hamilton that's the problem here, if he is one at all. The Flames have issues and sometimes a team needs scapegoat but is Hamilton the right one?
Then again there could be something else and perhaps that has nothing to do with the on-ice play as was rumoured some years ago in Boston. To me this seems more like a team issue than one player. Look at it this way at even strength the Flames are shooting 6.99% and the stopping pucks at .907- Double roof!! That equates to a PDO of 97.72 and that's what might be killing them. But always a scapegoat right?
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